Each day that went by, things were improving. Inside a dim candle was lit, and day by day the light grew brighter. I thought of the people who had prayed for me over the past months, and those who had tried to help. Because it was getting close to Valentine's Day, I decided to thank everyone by making and delivering a heart cake to them. If I'm remembering correctly, I made 35 cakes. I wrote and printed out a letter, telling how God was working in my life.
A couple of weeks before Easter, an idea popped into my head. All these years Ed had been a student, and whenever I had suggested having company, his usual reply was "I'm busy studying". His 29th birthday was on Good Friday, and I thought, "He has a good job now, he's finished studying, so I'll put on a surprise birthday for him". It sounded like lots of fun, I loved surprising people. I began making a list and phoned people. I phoned and invited all our relatives who lived at the coast. Then I started phoning our tree planting friends. No need to stop there, I phoned church friends, then I really got carried away. I phoned people from Trinity Western (even the President Dr. Snyder and his wife). Did I tell you I was manic? I even got names of his old drinking buddies from high school and called them! I thought it was lots of fun, and I was doing something great for my husband, but actually I wasn't well! There were at least 150 people who were invited, I told each of them I would feed them lunch and they weren't to bring any food or gifts. After all the phoning was done, I asked Ed for money, as I wanted to go grocery shopping. His reply, word for word was, "There is no money in the bank, and there is four dollars and a few cents up on the dresser". I pretended not to be alarmed, and inside I prayed, "Lord you can still do that loaves and fishes thing, can't you?" I went my way, and started thinking about what I could make with what I had in the pantry and freezer, and what I needed as absolute necessities. It came down to yeast and eggs.
The next day, I drove over to Ed's parents place, and asked if Grandpa could watch the kids for a bit while I went grocery shopping. I was determined not to tell anyone but the Lord of my predicament. It was a time to trust. Out of the blue, Ed's Dad said, "We've got a bunch of eggs that are cracked. Do you need some eggs for baking?" I could have jumped with joy! Could I? I thanked Dad and was on my way. That night I began to bake. Since Ed was such a super story teller, I asked him to put them to bed, and he'd usually end up falling asleep before they did, and so I would bake all night. I did this for several nights, and each morning when Ed went into the shower, I would drive over to his parent's place and put the baking in the freezer. Two days before his birthday, he got a pay check and I spent about $35. on everything else I needed. It seemed that everything I needed was on sale, and I made a gourmet meal. My friend Sandy phoned and said the Lord told her to give me a sockeye salmon for Ed's birthday. I tried to refuse, but she insisted. I had baked many loaves, and now here was the fish. I saw it as my miracle meal, as the Lord was providing.
The day before Ed's birthday, I was going to prepare the main course. My friend Mary offered to help me, and we planned to make the food in the basement suite where we used to live. She brought her two boys over, while she did a couple things. Minutes later, Mary called very distraught. "My Mom just passed away," she cried. I told her not to worry about the boys, that I'd watch them while she got prepared to fly home. So instead of cooking like I planning to, I took care of 4 young children. Later, I went and spent some time with Mary, as she talked about her Mom. I asked her if they were flying out that day, if I could take all the food and prepare it at her house. So I made an excuse to Ed that I needed to do some cleaning for Mary, but instead made quite a mess! (I cleaned later). The salmon was done in brioche dough with a stuffing of wine and mushrooms. I made a number of special dishes that had cream cheese or sour cream in them, and have to admit it was a delicious meal. Because Ed has so many different interests, I made three shaped cakes for him; a guitar, soccer ball and a typewriter.
I had stayed up all night every night for at least a week. The morning of Ed's birthday, he got up and said he was going golfing with his brother in laws. I hurried and tried to make the place presentable, and had trusted the Lord for a nice sunny day. We had no furniture, except a bed and a crib so I borrowed lawn chairs from several people. About 80 people attended his birthday, and turned pretty red when he got back from golfing. He said, "Is there anyone you didn't invite?" He looked pretty embarrassed to have all this attention. That night when it was all over, I couldn't sleep. I got up and sewed Jenna an Easter dress for church. On Easter Sunday, I took the leftovers to church and fed at least another 50 people. Besides that, I gave lots of food away to people. It truly was a loaves and fishes miracle!
During this time, I had been meditating a lot on Proverbs 31 (the wonder woman of the Bible). Often when I read scripture, I would pray and ask the Lord to make me more like what I was reading. The Proverbs woman seemed like super woman and quite unattainable! How could one woman do all these things, except that she had servant girls. Something that really impressed me about this godly woman was her relationship with her husband. It says, "She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life...Her husband is respected...Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her." I sensed that this godly woman in Proverbs was totally supportive of her husband, that he could trust her completely. I asked God to forgive me for trying to make Ed more spiritual, to get him to pray more with me. I realised I was trying to do the Holy Spirit's work, which only He could do. My job was to honour, love, support and encourage Ed; to be his cheer leader in a sense. I asked God to help me, to change me to be the wife He wanted me to be for my husband. It is my firm belief that a good marriage starts when two people accept one another and don't try and change each other. That is God's work. Over the years a good marriage, with a lot of forgiveness and hard work can become a great marriage. I believe God has blessed us with a wonderful marriage, and I'm thankful He cared enough to show me early on where I was going wrong, and corrected me so that He could build our marriage to His glory and honour.
As I continued to meditate on Proverbs 31, another idea was forming. This was a perfect business idea! This industrious woman was able to care for the needs of her family, as well as making and selling her wares. There are so many great ideas in God's Word. I first told Ed ab out my ideas. He was OK with it, as long as the Lord was leading me to do this. We didn't have any money to spare, but I wondered if I could get a small business loan from the government, as there was a job creation aspect to my idea. I made an appointment to see Elwood Veitch, a Christian small business MLA and also right hand man to the Premier. I presented my ideas to him, he thought they were great, but didn't think I would want the government involved, as I only needed $6,000. for start up costs. He agreed to be the guest speaker at the opening of my store. I met with Neil Snyder, the President of Trinity Western University, to see what he thought. He thought it could work well, but cautioned me to start with some, but not all my ideas. Lando, the owner of a successful Christian book store in Abbotsford was very encouraging as I shared my ideas with him. He even offered to place best selling Christian books, Bibles and music, along with the shelves to display them in my store. I talked to another successful Christian businessman, Ivan Visser who was also encouraging. Besides having a food importing business, he also began an orphanage in the Philippines. Also encouraging me on was Geoffrey Still, Canadian President of Focus on the Family and Peggy Sharpe, President of Real Women Canada. The Bible says there is wisdom in many counsellors, and now I had the courage to step out in faith.
My business was called "Wendy's Homemade Treasures". I contacted the Pastors of 50 churches in the Vancouver/Burnaby area and shared my ideas with them. I was amazed that every one of them were in favour, and willing to promote my business in their church. Wow, I thought, this idea must be from God. Over the next months, there were 136 artisans who brought their items for me to sell. The set the price, 10% of the selling price went to missions (needy children in the Philippines), and I added a mark up of 10 to 30%. The store was opened Monday through Saturday, 9:30 am was prayer time, 10-5 pm the store hours. Most days there were free demonstrations. Some of them included Norwegian rose malling, folk art, knitting, crocheting tatting, hand crafting silver jewelry, cake decorating, bread making, and the list goes on. There were at least 70 different types of demonstrations. Many who brought their crafts on consignment, also demonstrated how to make them. This idea came from scripture which says, "The older women should teach the younger women". Many of the younger generation don't seem to know the skills of their grandparents generation, so I called these demonstrations 'homemaking skills'. I hired a babysitter to watch children while their Moms enjoyed the free demos. The coffee and tea, plus goodies I made fresh each morning were free. They also didn't have to pay for the babysitting. Business was gaining momentum as people told others about the store. A furniture builder in our church was so gracious as to build my store furnishings at his cost. He made several pine shelves and a matching demonstration table, plus a two storey kid's playhouse, with a picket fence surrounding the kid's area. Jenna and Michael were there with me 5 days of the week.
We held a grand opening for the store, more like a dedication of it to the Lord. As the local MLA got tied up with other business, Geoffry Still came instead. Peggy Sharp from Real Women shared. Three amazing musicians sang; Mary Rush, Crystal Hicks and Alan Moberg. One of our pastors, Bruce Robertson spoke and prayed , and finally I shared about my vision. It was an exciting day.
Some excellent opportunities presented to promote the business. A local radio station interviewed me for about 30 minutes. A reporter from the Christian Info newspaper came and interviewed me, and wrote a nice article about the business. Later, she sent me an article from a Christian paper in Winnipeg which was called "Women of Faith". It was about pastor's wives in general, then talked about Mother Theresa, an then about me! What a shock, to be in the same article with Mother Theresa! The author obviously didn't know me! Before Christmas, I approached Burnaby Cable TV, and they agreed to make a one hour TV special in my store. A number of women came and demonstrated how to make Christmas items, and then I told at the end of the program how this idea came from the Bible. I had no business background, so was glad I could glean some wisdom from the Word.
There were things about the business that Ed wasn't too comfortable with. One young man had recently gotten out of jail, and was my daily visitor, enjoying the free coffee and goodies. He seemed harmless and like he really needed a friend. One day I got robbed by two young men, probably 16-18 years old. One of them asked me about a Bible, and I was excited to be sharing with him about the various versions we had. The only problem was at the same time his buddy took the money. I discovered the money was gone when I went to make change for the next customer. Then I noticed the beautiful silver bracelets by the till were also gone. That's when I started to cry! I called the police, but later found that my son had been playing around the desk, and had hidden the bracelets under the display case. I was very thankful, what a relief! I called the police back, as they didn't need to come, as I couldn't get money replaced anyway! Another time, I shared with a woman into Eastern mysticism and trusted that the seed that was sown in her heart might some day bear good fruit.
By Christmas, we found out that we were expecting another baby. Ed said it was enough to be potty training Michael in the store, but he wouldn't allow me to nurse a baby in the store. I began talking to various people about selling the business, and there were seven people interested. My volunteer accountant thought I'd be making money by the end of the first year of business, as it was growing well. Susan, a registered nurse said she'd like to continue the ministry. She flew to California where she owned property and she was going to take out a small loan. Months went by and I never heard from her, so just ended up closing the store. I found out much later that she had broken her foot and stayed there to recuperate. Sadly, I informed 136 that they needed to pick up their merchandise. Now I had a small loan to pay back, so I started selling Avon and babysitting again. Not long after the store closed, Ed got a job in Whitecourt, Alberta so it was a good thing that we had everything cleared up.
And so my life seemed to go; from extreme lows to the wonderful highs. It seemed that on either end of the pendulum, sleep was rare. During the lows, my mind wouldn't stop thinking negatively about myself. Conversely in the manic periods, my mind raced with ideas and excitement. I started so many projects that never got completed, I felt sometimes I was going in circles. A multi-tasker to the max, to put it mildly. It was impossible for my body to keep up with all the flood of thoughts and plans my mind came up with. Talking incessantly was also a trade mark of being manic, and there were times people would simply walk away from me. They probably thought I'd never stop! On the other hand during a depression, I would be very quiet and seemed to have nothing to say to anyone. It's a very strange illness, and my personality seemed to completely change. I don't know if my husband has figured me out yet!
No comments:
Post a Comment